Police reponding to reports of shots fired at a Palatine Walmart found one person bleeding outside the store and arrested several others inside near the jewelry counter, witnesses said.
The condition of the injured man is not known.
Officers responded to a call about 7:30 p.m. at the store at 1555 N. Rand Road. Although police originally reported investigating gunshots in the store, they now believe shots were fired elsewhere and the activity ended in the Walmart parking lot, authorities said.
Shopper Kimberly Spears was inside the Walmart with her two young sons, standing next to three young men at the jewelry counter. “They were all huddled together,” she said of the three men.
Then six or seven police officers came in with guns drawn and ordered the men to get on the ground, which they did. Police handcuffed them and removed them from the store, she said.
Other people coming into the store told her a man who was bleeding was sitting outside the store, she said.
Meanwhile, the north entrance to the store remained open for shoppers while the south entrance was closed and blocked off with crime scene tape. A bloody shirt and some blood were on the sidewalk in front of the store entrance.
Walmart employees declined to comment on the investigation but said “everything is safe” and the store would remain open for regular business hours.
Spears, of Palatine, said she was shocked and doesn’t know how she’s going to explain what happened to her sons.
“We live right here. We shop here all the time. Nothing like that has ever happened,” she said.
• Daily Herald staff writer Jake Griffin contributed to this report.
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